ALEXANDER  GOLDSTEIN 


The  Idea  and  Vision  of 
Abraham  Lincoln 

The  Coming  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt      /,.  ••••, 


BY  DANIEL  \v.  CHURCH 


CHICAGO 
THE  BERLIN  CAREY   COMPANY 


The  Idea  and  Vision  of 
Abraham  Lincoln 

—  and  = 

The  Coming  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt 


BY  DANIEL  W.  CHURCH 


CHICAGO 
THE  BERLIN  CAREY  COMPANY 


Copyright  1910  and  1912. 

.  BY  DANIEL  \V.  CHURCH 

EHtefed'at  Stationers  Hall  London 

All  Rights  Reserved. 


Foreword 


We  have  got  to  have  Industrial  justice,  or  w«  will 
have  government  ownership,  and  that  failing  we  will 
have  Industrial  chaos  and  beyond.  And  the  Industrial 
justice  that  will  save  us  from  It  Is  not  the  Industrial 
justice  of  a  few  of  us,  but  the  Institutional  justice  of 
all  of  us. 


773189 


The  Idea  and  Vision  of  Abraham 
Lincoln 


A  HUNDRED  years  ago  an  event    occurred    in  a  littte 
floorless  cabin  in  the  State  of  Kent acky  that  *fce  hi*** 
not  yet  seen  the  full  result  of,  nor  will  we  see  the  full  re 
sult  of  it  for  many  years  to  come. 

Just  the  number  of  persons  present  we  do  not  know, 
but  certain  it  is  that  there  was  a  neighboring  housewife  or 
two,  and  Nancy  Hanks-Lincoln,  and  perhaps  her  little  two- 
year-old  daughter  Sarah — and  no  more.  For  there  was  no 
physician,  and  Thomas  Lincoln  was  away,  and  did  not  re 
turn  until  the  event  was  over. 

To  all  others,  so  far  as  we  know,  what  occurred  re 
mained  unknown  until  the  next  morning,  when  Thomas 
Lincoln  carried  the  news  of  it  to  the  Sparrow  family,  some 
two  miles  away,  where  he  announced  it  in  this  simple 
manner:  "Nancy's  got  a  baby  boy." — Nancy  being  the 
niece  of  Mrs.  Sparrow. 

And  all  unconscious  of  the  importance  of  what  she  was 
about  to  do,  the  good  woman  of  the  house  hastily  cleared 
up  the  breakfast  table,  and  went  over  the  same  way  that 
the  father  had  come  to  where  the  young  child  was. 

And  Dennis  Hanks,  a  ten-year-old  cousin  of  the  new 
baby,  who  lived  with  the  Sparrows,  and  ran  ahead  and  got 
there  first,  tells  us  that  "she  washed  him,  an'  put  a  yaller 
flannen  petticoat  on  him,  an'  cooked  some  dried  berries 
with  wild  honey  fur  Nancy,  an'  slicked  things  up  a  bit  an' 
went  home.  And  that,"  he  says,  "is  all  the  nuss'n  either 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCO1 


of  them  got,  'cept  what  old  Tom  giv'  'em." 

And  so  far  as  we  know,  it  was  through  the  Spa 
and  Cousin  Dennis  that  the  news  was  spread  that  a 
had  been  born  that  night  in  the  little  cabin  in  the 
Kentucky  .hills,,  and  that  he  was  called  Abraham,  aft 
grandfatheVLii^ohi,  /who  was  killed  by  the  Indians 
working  in  his,  fiejds  mafcy  years  before. 

."  ;0tj£tain  it  :is  {-hat  •Cousin  Dennis  took  no  pains  to 
the  matter  a  secret,  for  he  tells  us  that  "babies  were 
thick  as  blackberries  in  the  woods  o'  Kentucky,"  an< 
he  "was  well-nigh  tickled  to  death"  at  the  coming  c 
one. 

"I  rolled  up,"  he  says,  "in  a  b'ar-skin  that  nigl 
slep'  by  the  fire-place,  so  I  could  see  the  little  feller 
he  waked  up.  An'  Tom  had  to  get  up  and  tend 
Nancy  let  me  hold  him  purty  soon." 

And  when  asked  if  Abe  was  a  goodlooking  bal 
said: 

"Well  now,  he  looked  jist  like  any  other  baby  a 
— like  red  cherry-pulp  squeezed  dry.  An'  he  didn' 
prove  much  as  he  growed  older.  Abe  never  was  muc 
looks.  I  recollect  how  Tom  joked  about  his  long  legs 
he  was  toddlin'  'round  the  cabin. 

"But,"  he  says,  "looks  didn't   count  much   them 
no  how.    It  was  strength,  an'  work,  an'  daredevil." 

And  this  child  was  a  child  of  destiny,  and  gre\ 
waxed  strong. 

"He  was  right  out  in  the  woods,"  Dennis  tell 
"  'bout  as  soon  's  he  was  weaned,  fishin'  in  the  crick,  s 
traps  fur  rabbits,  an'  muskrats,  goin'  on  coon-hunts 
Tom  an'  me  an'  the  dogs,  an'  drapin'  corn  fur  his  papi 

And  when  asked  if  they  were  poor,  he  said: 

"Pore?    We  were  all  pore  them  days,  but  the 


IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


s  was  porer  than  anybody.    Choppin'  trees,  an'  grub- 
roots,  an'  splitting  rails,  didn't  leave  Tom  no  time  to 
a  puncheon-floor  in  his  cabin.    It  was  all  he  could  do 
et  his  fambly  enough  to  eat  an'  kiver  'em.    Nancy  was 
ible  ashamed  o'  the  way  they  lived,  but  she   knowed 
i  was  doin'  his  best,  an'  she  was  n't  the  pesterin'  kind. 
"She  was  as  purty  as  a  pictur*   an'   as  smart  as   you'd 
'em    anywhar.      She   could    read    and    write.    The 
ikses  was  some  smarter  'n  the  Lincolns.    Tom  thought 
jap  o'  Nancy,  an'  was  as  good  to  her  as  he  knoved 
to  be.  He  didn't  drink  or  swear,  or  play  cards,  or  fight 
e,  an'  them  was  drinkin'   an'   cussin'    an'    quarrelsome 
s. 

"When  Nancy  married  Tom  he  was  workin'  in  a  car 
ter-shop.  It  wasn't  Tom's  fault,  but  he  could  n't  make 
vin'  by  his  trade.  So  he  took  up  some  land.  It  was 
hty  ornery  land,  but  it  was  the  best  he  could  get,  when 
iidn't  have  much  to  trade  fur  it." 
But  no  matter  how,  or  by  whom,  the  tidings  of  the 
h  of  this  child  was  spread  in  that  poor  neighborhood, 
it  is  not  his  becoming  known  there  that  is  important 
is,  but  his  becoming  known  elsewhere,  and  in  a  far  dif- 
mt  way  from  what  he  became  known  there,  and  in  a  far 
erent  way  from  what  he  became  known  in  the  poor 
?hborhood  in  Indiana  in  wrhich  his  parents  soon  moved, 
vhich  we  get  some  intimate  glimpses  from  his  interest- 
cousin  Dennis,  who  accompanied  them. 
"Tom,"  he  says,  "got  hold  o'  a  better  farm  after 
le;  but  he  couldn't  get  a  clear  title  to  it,  so  when  Abe 
j  about  eight  years  old,  an'  I  was  about  eighteen,  we  all 
out  fur  Indiany. 

"Nancy  emptied  the  shucks  out  o'  the  tow-linen  ticks, 
they  piled  everything  they  had  wuth  takin'   on  the 
ks  o'  two  pack-hosses"( which  were  borrowed). 

5 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

"Tom  could  make  pole-beds  an'  puncheon-tables  an' 
stools  easier'n  he  could  carry  'em.  Abe  toted  a  gun,  an' 
kep'  it  so  dry  on  the  raft  crossin'  the  Ohio  that  he  shot  a 
turkey  with  it  the  fust  day  we  got  to  Indiany.  An'  he  was 
so  proud  of  it  that  he  couldn't  stop  talkin'  about  it  till 
Tom  hollered  to  him  to  quit. 

"Tom  brought  his  tools  and  traded  fur  some  land 
with  Mr.  Gentry.  It  was  in  Spencer  County,  back  a  piece 
from  the  Ohio  river.  We  had  to  chop  down  trees  to  make 
a  road  to  it.  But  it  was  good  land,  in  the  timber  whar  the 
women  could  pick  up  their  firewood,  an'  on  a  crick  with  a 
deer-lick  handy,  an'  a  good  spring  o'  water. 

"We  all  lived  in  pole-sheds  fur  a  year.  Don't  know 
what  pole-sheds  is?  Well,  they're  jist  shacks  o'  poles 
roofed  over,  but  left  open  on  one  side — no  floor,  no  fire 
place.  I  don't  see  how  the  women  folks  lived  through  it. 

"  'Bout  the  time  we  got  our  cabins  up  the  Sparrows 
both  died  o'  milk  sickness,  an'  I  went  to  Tom's  to  live. 
Then  Nancy  died  o'  the  same  disease.  The  cows  et  pizen 
weeds,  I  reckon.  O  Lord,  O  Lord,  I'll  never  furget  it,  the 
misery  in  that  cabin  in  the  woods  when  Nancy  died. 

"Abe  an'  me  helped  Tom  make  the  coffin.  He  took  a 
log  left  over  frum  makin'  the  cabin,  an  I  helped  him  whip- 
saw  it  into  planks  an'  plane  'em.  Me  'n  Abe  held  the 
planks  while  Tom  bored  the  holes  an'  put  them  together 
with  pegs  Abe'd  whittled." 

Just  to  think  of  it!  Little  Abe  whittling  pegs  to  hold 
his  mother's  coffin  together!  What  could  be  more  pa 
thetic  and  heart-breaking  than  that? 

"I  reckon,"  Dennis  says,  "it  was  thinkin'  o'  Nancy  that 
started  Abe  to  studying  that  winter.  He  could  read  an' 
write,  Nancy  an'  me'd  taught  him  that.  An'  he  had  gone 
to  school  a  spell,  but  it  was  nine  miles  thar  an'  back,  an'  a 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

poor  make-out  fur  a  school   anyway.    Tom   said  it  was   a 
waste  o'  time  fur  him  to  go,  an'  I  reckon  he  was  right." 

Yes;  it  was  thinking  of  his  mother  that  started  Abe  to 
studying  that  winter,  for  this  child  had  been  selected  to 
render  us  a  great  service,  and  given  a  great  idea  to  guide 
him  in  it,  and  his  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  his  mother  so  far 
developed  it  that  he  sought  to  give  expression  to  it. 

And  Dennis  tells  us  that,  "after  spellin'  through  the 
epellin'-book  twict  he  tuk  to  writin'  his  name  on  the  cabin, 
the  fence  rails,  and  the  wooden  fire-shovel,  with  a  bit  o' 
charcoal.  It  pestered  Tom  a  heap,"  he  says  ,  "to  have  Abe 
writin'  all  over  everything,  but  Abe  was  just  wropped  up 
in  it." 

"  'Denny,'  he  says  to  me  many  a  time,  'Look  at  that, 
will  you?  Abraham  Lincoln.  That  stands  fur  me.  Don't 
look  a  blamed  bit  like  me."  An'  he'd  stand  an'  study  it  a 
Bpell.  'Feared  to  mean  a  heap  to  Abe." 

And  it  did  mean  a  heap  to  Abe.  And  it  has  coir*3  to 
mean  a  heap  to  us. 

"When  Tom  got  mad  at  his  markin'  the  cabin  up," 
Dennis  says,  "Abe  tuk  to  markin'  trees  Tom  wanted  to  cut 
down  with  his  name,  an'  writin'  it  in  the  sands  at  the  deer- 
lick." 

Where  it  washed  out.  But  he  afterwards  wrote  it 
where  it  did  not  wash  out — and  will  not  wash  out. 

And  having  immersed  his  child  in  poverty  and  sorrow, 
and  thereby  so  far  developed  the  idea  that  had  been  given 
to  him  as  to  commit  him  to  it,  fortune  now  smiled  upon 
him,  and  gave  him  a  mother  in  the  place  of  the  one  that 
had  been  taken  away  from  him. 

In  telling  us  about  it  Dennis  says: 

"Tom  he  moped  around.  He  put  the  corn  in,  in  the 
Spring,  an'  left  Abe  an'  me  to  tend  it,  an'  lit  out  fur  Kain- 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

tucky.  An*  we  was  well-nigh  tickled  to  death  when  he 
brung  a  new  wife  home. 

"She'd  been  Sairy  Bush,  an  Tom'd  been  in  love  with 
her  before  he  met  up  with  Nancy.  But  her  folks  wouldn't 
let  him  have  'er  because  he  was  so  shifless.  So  she  mar 
ried  a  man  named  Johnston,  an'  he  died,  an'  she  an'  Tom 
got  married. 

"She  had  three  children  of  'er  own,  an'  a  four-hoss 
wagon  load  o'  goods — feather  pillers,  an'  homespun  blan 
kets,  an'  patchwork  quilts,  an'  a  chest  o'  drawers,  an'  a 
flax  wheel,  an'  a  soap  kettle,  an'  cookin'  pots,  an'  pewter 
dishes. 

"I  reckon  we  was  all  purty  ragged  and  durty  when  she 
got  thar.  The  fust  thing  she  did  was  to  tell  me  to  tote 
one  o'  Tom's  carpenter  benches  to  a  place  outside  the  door, 
near  the  hoss-trough.  Then  she  had  me  'n  Abe  an'  John 
Johnston,  her  boy,  fill  it  with  spring  water.  An'  then  she 
put  out  a  gourd  full  o'  soap,  an'  told  us  boys  to  wash 
up  fur  dinner. 

"You  jist  naturally  had  to  be  somebody  when  Aunt 
Sairy  was  around.  She  had  Tom  build  her  a  loom,  and 
when  she  heered  o'  some  lime-burners  bein'  around  she 
had  Tom  mosey  over  an'  git  some,  an'  whitewash  the  cab 
in.  An'  he  made  her  an  ash-hopper,  an'  a  chicken-house 
nothin'  could  git  in  to. 

"Aunt  Sairy  was  a  woman  o'  property,  an'  could  'a' 
done  better,  I  reckon.  But  Tom  had  a  kin  a'  way  with 
the  women,  an'  maybe  it  was  somethin'  she  tuk  comfort  in 
to  have  a  man  that  didn't  drink,  or  swear  none. 

"She  n~ade  a  heap  more  o'  Tom,  too,  than  poor  Nancy 
did,  an'  before  winter  he'd  put  in  a  new  floor  he'd  whip- 
sawed  an'  planed  off  so  she  could  scour  it.  An'  made 
some  good  beds  an*  cheers,  an'  tinkered  the  roof  so  it 

8 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

wouldn't  snow  on  us  boys  'at  slep'  in  the  loft. 

"Thar  was  eight  of  us  to  do  fur,  but  Aunt  Sairy  had 
faculty,  an'  didn't  'pear  to  be  hurried  or  worried  none 
Little  Sairy  cherked  right  up,  with  a  mother  an'  two  sis 
ters  fur  company. 

"She  married,"  Dennis  tells  us,  "purty  young,  an'  died 
with  her  fust  baby." 

But  while  the  book  that  fortune  thus  threw  into  his 
hands  so  far  developed  the  idea  that  had  been  given  him 
that  he  sought  to  give  expression  to  it  by  writing  his  name 
on  the  fence  rails,  and  the  fire-shovel,  and  in  the  sands  at 
the  deer-lick,  it  did  not  so  far  develop  it  that  he  could  give 
expression  to  it,  and  as  he  could  get  no  help  from  those 
about  him,  he  turned  to  books. 

"Denny,"  he  would  say,  "the  thing  I  want  to  know  is 
in  books,  an'  my  best  friend's  the  man  that  will  get  me 
one." 

"Well,"  Dennis  says,  "books  weren't  as  plenty  in  them 
days  as  wild-cats,  but  I  got  him  one  by  cuttin'  cordwood." 

How  he  was  directed  in  the  selection  of  it  he  does  not 
tell  us,  but  certain  it  is  that  he  was  rightly  directed  in  it, 
for  what  little  Abe  needed  was  something  to  arouse  his  im 
agination  to  lead  his  idea  out,  and  the  book  that  Dennis  got 
for  him  was  of  all  books  the  best  suited  for  it,  for  it  was 
"The  Arabian  Nights'  Entertainments." 

"It  had  a  lot  of  yarns  in  it,"  Dennis  tells  us.  "One  I 
recollect  was  about  a  feller  that  got  near  some  darned 
rock  that  drawed  all  the  nails  out  o'  his  boat,  an'  he  got  a 
duckin'.  Wasn't  a  blamed  bit  o'  sense  in  it,  but  Abe'd  lay 
on  his  stumick  by  the  fire,  an'  read  out  loud  to  me  an'  Aunt 
Sairy  by  the  hour,  an'  we'd  laugh  when  he  did,  though  I 
reckon  it  went  in  at  one  ear  and  out  at  the  other  with  her 
as  it  did  with  me. 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

"  'Abe.'  I  sez,  many  a  time,  'them  yarns  is  all  lies.' 

"  'Mighty  darn  good  lies,'  he'd  say,  an'  go  on  readin' 
an'  chucklin'  to  himself,  till  Tom'd  cover  up  the  fire  fur 
the  night  an'  shoo  him  off  to  bed." 

But  little  Abe  not  only  needed  something  to  arouse  his 
imagination  to  lead  his  idea  out,  but  he  needed  something 
to  associate  it  with  after  it  was  led  out.  And  to  supply 
him  with  this,  fortune  threw  into  his  hands  a  copy  of  "The 
Revised  Statutes  of  Indiana,"  which  was  just  suited  for 
it  was  for  an  earlier  form  of  his  idea  and  served  him  the 
same  purpose  in  developing  it  that  is  served  those  that 
develop  mechanical  ideas  by  the  earlier  forms  of  them, 
and  Dennis  tells  us  that  he  would  lie  over  it  half  the  night 

But  while  the  book  that  fortune  thus  threw  into  his 
hands  was  of  great  value  to  him,  being  an  earlier  form  of 
his  idea,  and  not  the  form  that  he  sought  to  give  it,  it  did 
not  satisfy  him,  and  he  became  more  anxious  for  books 
than  ever. 

"He  cut  four  cords  o'  wood  onct,"  Dennis  tells  us,  "to 
get  one  stingy  little  slice  o'  a  book.  It  was  the  life  of 
George  Washington." 

And  from  this  on  it  was  books  and  ever  more  books. 
"Seems  to  me  now,"  Dennis  says,  "I  never  seen  Abe  after 
he  was  twelve  'at  he  didn't  have  a  book  in  his  hand,  or  in 
his  pocket.  He'd  put  a  book  inside  his  shirt  an'  fill  his 
pants  pockets  with  corn  dodgers  an'  go  off  to  plow,  or  hoe, 
an'  when  noon  come  he'd  set  under  a  tree  an'  read  an'  eat. 
An*  when  he  came  home  at  night  he'd  tilt  a  cheer  bad:  by 
the  chimbly  and  put  his  feet  on  the  rung,  an'  set  on  his 
back-bone  an*  read. 

"Aunt  Sairy  always  put  a  candle  on  the  mantelpiece 
fur  him  if  she  had  one.  An'  as  like  as  not  Abe'd  eat  his 
supper  tbar,  takin'  anything  that  she'd  give  him  that  he 

10 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

could  gnaw  at  an'  read  at  the  same  time. 

"I've  seen  many  a  feller  come  in  an'  look  at  him,  Abe 
not  knowin'  that  anybody  was  around,  an'  sneak  out  ag'in 
like  a  cat,  an'  say,  'Well,  I'll  be  darned.'  It  didn't  seem 
nateral  nohow  to  see  a  feller  read  like  that.  Aunt  Sairy 
never  let  the  children  pester  him.  She  always  said  Abe'd 
be  a  great  man  some  day,  an'  she  wasn't  goin'  to  have  him 
hindered." 

And  now  the  scene  changes. 

"Well,"  old  Dennis  says,  "le'  me  see.  Yes,  I  reckon  .!t 
was  John  Hanks  'at  got  res'less  fust  an'  lit  out  fur  Illinois, 
an'  wrote  fur  us  all  to  come,  an'  he'd  git  land  fur  us.  Tom 
was  always  ready  to  move.  He  never  had  his  land  in  In- 
diany  paid  fur  anyhow. 

"So  he  sold  off  his  corn  an'  hogs,  an'  piled  everything 
into  ox  wagons  an'  we  all  went,  the  Lincolns  an'  the 
Hankses  an'  Johnstons,  all  hangin'  together.  I  reckon  we 
was  like  one  o'  them  lost  tribes  o'  Israel  that  you  can't 
break  up  nohow.  An'  Tom  was  always  lookiu'  tur  the 
land  o'  Canaan. 

"Thar  was  five  famblies  of  us,  an'  Abe.  It  tuk  two 
weeks  to  git  thar,  raftin'  over  the  Wabash,  cuttin'  our  way 
through  the  woods,  fordin'  rivers,  pryin'  wagons  out  o' 
sloughs  with  fence  rails,  an'  makin'  camp. 

"Abe  cracked  a  joke  every  time  he  cracked  a  whip  an' 
found  a  way  out  o'  every  tight  place  while  the  rest  o'  us 
was  standin'  'round  scratchin'  our  fool  heads.  I  reckon 
Abe  an'  Aunt  Sairy  run  that  movin',  an'  it's  a  good  thing 
they  did,  of  it'd  a'  be'n  run  onto  swamp  an'  sucked  under. 

"Abe  helped  put  up  a  cabin  fur  Tom  on  the  Sangamon, 
clear  fifteen  acres  fur  corn,  an'  split  walnut  rails  to  fence 
it..' 

11 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

.    Abe  was  some'ers  'round  twenty-one."  1 

And  here  we  must  part  with  Tom,  Aunt  Sairy,  and 
Cousin  Dennis,  for  here  little  Abe,  no  longer  little,  parted 
with  them,  and  went  out  in  the  world,  so  far  as  outward 
wealth  was  concerned,  except  for  his  axe  and  the  clothes 
on  his  back,  as  poor  as  when  he  came  into  it.  And  to  sup 
port  himself,  among  other  things  he  split  three  thousand 
rails  that  Fall,  walking  three  miles  to  his  work. 

And  the  next  Spring  Denton  Offutt  hired  him  to  take  a 
boat-load  of  stock  and  provision  to  New  Orleans  where  we 
are  told  that  seeing  for  the  first  time  human  beings  put  up 
on  the  block  and  sold  like  cattle,  he  said: 

"Boys,  let's  get  away  from  here," 

And  that  as  they  went  away  he  said:  "if  ever  I  get  a 
chance  to  hit  that  thing  I'll  hit  it  hard." 

Which  he  afterwards  did. 

That  Fall— the  Fall  of  1831 — after  returning  from  New 
Orleans  he  became  a  clerk  in  Offutt's  store  in  the  town  of 
New  Salem,  where  his  idea  again  asserted  itself,  as  did  h:s 
hunger  for  books  to  assist  him  in  developing  it,  and  he 
read  everything  that  he  could  get  hold  of,  and  wrote  of  ev 
erything  that  he  read,  and  so  far  developed  it  by  doing  so 
that  he  again  sought  to  give  expression  to  it. 

And  being  associated  as  it  was  in  his  mind  with  the 
form  of  it  that  had  been  thrown  into  his  hands  while  in  In 
diana— "The  Revised  Statutes"  of  that  State — it  gave  him 
consciousness  that  the  way  to  do  so  was  through  them,  or 

1  For  the  fore?o'ng  statements  of  Dennis  Hanks  we 
are  indebted  to  an  interview  had  with  him  by  Mrs.  Elean 
or  Atkinson  in  1889  at  Charleston,  Illinois,  a  full  account 
of  which  she  has  put  into  a  little  book  entitled  "The  Boy 
hood  of  Lincoln,"  published  by  Doubleday,  Page  and  Com 
pany,  New  York. 

12 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

rather  through  the  political  institutions  they  represented, 
and  he  announced  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  legisla 
ture  and  began  making  speeches  to  secure  his  election. 

But  this  was  soon  put  a  stop  to,  for  the  Blackhawk 
War  coming  on,  he  enlisted,  and  was  elected  Captain  of 
his  company,  and  for  the  first  time  became  officially  con 
nected  with  the  institutions  of  his  country.  And  as  it  was 
through  the  institutions  of  his  country  that  he  sought  to 
give  expression  to  the  idea  that  had  been  given  him,  it 
gave  him  more  satisfaction,  as  he  afterwards  said,  than 
any  other  success  of  his  life. 

But  the  war  was  soon  over,  and  coming  back  he  re 
newed  his  canvass  for  the  legislature,  but  was  defeated. 

And  in  the  meantime,  what  with  his  interest  in  his 
idea,  and  Offutt's  interest  in  him — for  neglecting  his  busi 
ness,  he  went  about  declaring  that  "Abe  was  the  greatest 
man  in  the  United  States,  and  would  be  President  some  day 
— "  the  store,  as  Lincoln  put  it,  "petered  out,"  and  left  him 
without  employment,  and  he  thought  of  learning  the  black 
smith's  trade. 

But  his  fate  would  not  have  it  so,  and  persuaded  him 
to  buy  a  half-interest  in  a  store,  although  he  had  nothing 
to  give  for  it  but  his  note,  and  his  partner  was  as  poor  as 
he  was. 

And  having  done  so,  he  again  settled  himself  to  read 
ing,  and  his  partner  settled  himself  to  drinking;  and  to  pre 
vent  them  from  breaking  up  before  he  had  read  the  books 
that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  read  to  do  the  work  that 
had  been  laid  upon  him,  it  pursuaded  them  to  buy  the  stock 
of  two  stores  more  and  add  to  the  stock  of  the  first  one, 
which  they  accordingly  did,  giving  their  notes  for  the  en 
tire  thing. 

And  now  that  he  was  comfortably  settled  in  reading, 
and  his  partner  comfortably  settled  in  drinking,  his  fate 

13 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

appeared  to  him  in  the  guise  of  an  emigrant  going  through 
town  and  sold  him  a  barrel  without  his  looking  into  it. 

He  relates  the  visitation  in  this  wise: 

"One  day,"  he  says,  "a  man  who  was  migrating  to  the 
West  drove  up  in  front  of  the  store  with  a  wagon  which 
contained  his  family  and  household  plunder.  He  asked 
me  if  I  would  buy  an  old  barrel  for  which  he  had  no  room 
in  his  wagon,  and  which  he  said  contained  nothing  of  spec 
ial  value. 

"I  did  not  want  it,  but  to  oblige  him  I  bought  it,  and  paid 
him,  I  think,  half  a  dollar  for  it.  Without  further  examina 
tion  I  put  it  away  in  the  store  and  forgot  all  about  it. 

"Some  time  after  in  overhauling  things  I  came  upon 
this  barrel,  and  emptying  it  upon  the  floor  to  see  what  it 
contained,  I  found  at  the  bottom  of  the  rubbish  a  complete 
set  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries.  I  began  to  read  these 
famous  works.  And  the  more  I  read  the  more  interested  I 
became.  Never  in  my  life  was  I  so  thoroughly  absorbed. 
I  read  until  I  devoured  them." 

And  then  he  got  other  law  books  and  devoured  them. 
And  what  with  his  reading  law  in  one  end  of  the  store,  and 
his  partner  drinking  in  the  other,  their  business  slipped 
away  from  them,  and  his  partner  ran  off  and  left  him  to 
pay  the  notes  that  they  had  given  for  it. 

Which  was  fair  enough,  for  his  partner  got  nothing 
out  of  the  venture,  while  he  got  the  knowledge  of  the  law 
out  of  it  which  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  have  to  do  the 
work  he  was  selected  for. 

But  while  such  was  the  purpose  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  law  that  he  thus  acquired,  the  idea  that  had  been  given 
him  was  not  yet  sufficiently  developed  to  give  him  con 
sciousness  of  it,  and  his  fate  again  immersed  him  in  sor 
row  to  develop  it  further  that  he  might  not  lose  sight  of 

14 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  work  that  he  was  selected  for  in  the  practice  of  it. 

And  this  is  the  way  she  did  it: 

Among  the  young  men  who  early  took  up  their  abode 
in  the  town  of  New  Salem  was  John  McNiel,  as  he  called 
himself,  from  the  State  of  New  York.  And  he  fell  in  love 
with  Ann  Rutledge,  and  she  in  love  with  him,  and  they  be 
came  engaged;  of  which  Lincoln  was  aware,  but  thinking 
that  it  was  no  affair  of  his  he  paid  no  attention  to  it.. 

And  in  the  meantime  he  was  appointed  Postmaster  of 
the  little  town  that  they  lived  in.  And  so  after  a  time  it 
went  on — he  handling  the  mail  that  came  and  went,  and 
John  McNiel  making  love  to  Ann  Rutledge. 

But  in  coming  West,  McNiel  had  left  his  parents  be 
hind,  and  he  and  Ann  decided  that  before  their  marriage 
he  should  go  back  after  them.  And  he  set  out  upon  his 
journey. 

Before  going  far,  however,  he  took  sick  of  a  fever,  and 
was  sick  a  long  time,  not  even  being  able  to  write  letters 
to  her,  which  she  came  every  day  to  the  Post  Office 
expecting  to  receive.  And  finally  she  told  Lincoln  of  the 
distress  that  she  was  in,  and  in  his  pity  for  her  he  fell  in 
love  with  her  himself,  and  told  her  of  it. 

And  who  could  blame  him?  For  we  are  told  that  "she 
was  of  sweet  and  gentle  manner,  with  blue  eyes  and  gold 
en  hair,  with  lips  as  red  as  cherries,  and  cheeks  like  the 
wild  rose." 

And  despairing  of  her  lover  ever  returning,  she  listen 
ed  to  him,  and  they  became  engaged. 

But  her  heart  was  elsewhere;  and  before  the  day  set 
for  the  wedding  she  sickened  and  died,  and  he  was 
plunged  into  the  deepest  sorrow. 

And  that  abiding  melancholy,  that  painful  sense  of  the 
incompleteness  of  life  that  his  developing  idea  gave  him, 

15 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  that  is  seen  in  all  his  likenesses,  asserted  itself,  and 
clouded  his  mind. 

We  are  told  that  one  stormy  night  he  sat  with  head 
bowed  in  his  hands  while  tears  ran  down  his  cheeks,  and 
that  to  a  friend  who  begged  him  to  control  his  sorrow  he 
said: 

"I  cannot!  The  thought  of  the  snow  and  rain  falling 
on  her  grave  fills  me  with  indescribable  grief." 

We  are  further  told  that  he  was  often  seen  walking 
alone,  muttering  strange  things  to  himself,  and  that  his 
friends  kept  a  close  watch  on  him;  and  that  finally  one  of 
them  took  him  to  his  home  and  kept  him  there  until  he  re 
covered. 

Ann,  Rutledge  was  buried  in  Concord  Cemetery 
where  Lincoln  often  went  to  weep  over  her  grave. 

"My  heart  is  buried  there,"  he  once  said  to  a  friend 
who  accompanied  him. 

But  his  sorrow  so  far  developed  his  idea  that  he  be 
came  more  anxious  to  give  expression  to  it  than  ever,  and 
he  again  announced  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  legis 
lature,  and  was  elected,  but  his  idea  had  not  yet  sufficient 
ly  developed  for  anything  to  come  of  it. 

But  by  the  time  the  next  legislature  met,  to  which  he 
was  also  elected,  it  had  so  far  developed  that  he  gave  ex 
pression  to  it  in  the  following  protest  that  he  drew  up  and 
signed  with  one  other: 

"Resolutions  upon  the  subject  of  domestic  slavery 
having  passed  both  branches  of  the  General  Assembly  at 
its  present  session,  the  undersigned  hereby  protest  against 
the  passage  of  the  same. 

"They  believe  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is  found 
ed  both  on  injustice  and  bad  policy,  but  that  the  promul- 

16 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

gation  of  abolition  doctrines  tends  rather  to  increase  than 
to  abate  its  evils. 

"They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
has  power  under  the  constitution  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  but  that  the  power  ought  not  to  be 
exercised  without  request  of  the  people  of  the  District." 

And  thus  it  came  about  that  the  idea  that  he  sought  to 
give  expression  to  when  a  child  by  writing  his  name  on  the 
fire-shovel,  and  the  fence  rails,  and  in  the  sands  of  the 
deer-lick,  he  give  expression  to  when  a  man,  by  writing  it 
on  a  protest  against  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  legis 
lature  of  a  sovereign  State. — Abraham  Lincoln. 

And  it  meant  a  heap  to  Abe.  For  it  so  far  developed  his 
idea  that  it  gave  him  consciousness  that  it  was  opposed  to 
one  of  the  institutions  of  his  counry,  and  as  he  sought  to 
give  expression  to  it  through  the  institutions  of  his  counry, 
it  revealed  to  him  the  difficulty  of  doing  so.  And  while  try 
ing  to  reach  a  solution  of  it  his  friends  thought  that  he  was 
losing  his  mind.  And  hoping  that  a  change  of  scenery 
would  benefit  him  they  sent  him  off  to  Kentucky. 

What  he  suffered  during  this  time  we  know  some 
thing  of  from  a  letter  that  he  wrote  his  partner  who  was 
in  Washington  as  a  member  of  Congress. 

"I  am,"  he  wrote,  "the  most  miserable  man  living.  If 
what  I  feel  were  equally  distributed  to  the  whole  human 
family,  there  would  not  be  a  cheerful  face  on  the  earth. 
Whether  I  shall  ever  be  better  I  cannot  tell;  I  awfully 
forebode  I  shall  not.  To  remain  as  I  am  is  impossible.  I 
must  die  or  be  better,  it  appears  to  me." 

It  was  while  in  this  condition  of  mind  that  he  broke 
his  engagement  with  Mary  Todd,  whom  he  afterwards  mar 
ried.  We  are  told  that  the  wedding  supper  was  prepared, 
and  that  the  guests  were  gathered,  but  that  he  failed  to 

17 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

appear,  and  that  he  was  found  the  next  morning  in  a  dazed 
condition.  Certain  it  is  that  something  of  the  kind  oc 
curred. 

And  certain  it  is  that  while  in  Kentucky  his  idea  suffi- 
iently  developed  for  him  to  begin  to  see  his  way,and  that 
it  was  to  be  given  expression  through  the  General  and  not 
through  the  State  government,  for  he  came  back  much 
improved,  and  renewing  the  engagement  that  he  had  brok 
en  off  with  Mary  Todd  he  got  married,  and  announced  him 
self  as  a  candidate  for  Congress — against  Edward  D, 
Baker  and  John  J.  Harding. 

But  by  the  time  the  Convention  came  on,  while  his  idea 
had  so  far  developed  as  to  give  him  consciousness  that  it 
was  to  be  expressed  through  the  General  and  not 
through  the  State  government,  it  was  not  yet  sufficiently 
developed  to  be  so  expressed;  and  upon  Harding  being 
nominated,  which  was  done  at  his  suggestion,  he  got  the 
the  Convention  to  pass  a  resolution  pledging  the  nomina 
tion  to  Baker  for  the  next  term,  thereby  putting  off  the  time 
of  his  entering  Congress  two  years  more,  and  making  it 
surer  that  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  would  do  so,  by  which 
time  he  hoped  that  his  idea  would  be  sufficiently  devel 
oped  for  him  to  properly  express  it  there. 

Accordingly  at  the  end  of  four  years,  which  he  spent 
in  practicing  law,  which  he  had  sometime  before  entered 
upon  in  Springfield — and  in  developing  his  idea  further — 
he  was  duly  nominated  and  elected. 

But  even  then  his  idea  was  not  sufficiently  developed 
for  him  to  give  proper  expression  to  it  in  Congress,  and 
his  election  was  a  disappointment  to  him,  as  we  know 
from  a  letter  that  he  wrote  to  a  friend  about  it,  in  which 
he  said: 

"Being  elected   to  Congress,  though  I  am   grateful  to 
18 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

our  friends  for  having  done  it,  has  not  pleased  me  as  much 
as  I  expected." 

And  when  he  got  to  Washington  he  found  that  all  that 
he  could  do  towards  giving  expression  to  his  idea  was  to 
express  the  consciousness  that  it  had  given  him  that  it  was 
opposed  to  the  institution  of  slavery,  as  he  had  done  in  the 
State  legislature,  which  he  did  by  introducing  a  bill  to 
abolish  it  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  by  voting  for 
"The  Wilmot  Proviso,"  declaring  that  it  should  not  exist  in 
any  territory  that  might  be  acquired  by  he  Mexican  War, 
that  was  then  in  progress. 

But  while  his  idea  was  not  sufficiently  developed  for 
him  to  give  any  further  expression  to  it  than  he  had  given 
in  the  State  legislature,  his  going  to  Washington  was  a 
great  advantage  to  him,  for  while  there  he  was  invited  to 
Boston  to  make  a  speech,  where  he  heard  the  great  anti- 
slavery  advocate,  William  H.  Seward,  make  one,  which  so 
far  developed  it  that  it  gave  him  consciousness  that  the 
institution  of  slavery  was  an  expression  of  an  opposite 
one;  and  that  however  much  his  idea  might  be  developed 
it  could  not  be  given  expression  through  the  government 
until  the  institution  of  slavery  was  out  of  the  way.  And 
that  night  as  they  sat  talking  he  said: 

"Governor  Seward,  I  have  been  thinking  over  what 
you  said  in  your  speech.  I  reckon  you  are  right.  We 
have  got  to  deal  with  this  question  of  slavery,  and  got  to 
give  more  attention  to  it  hereafter  than  we  have  been  do 
ing/ 

And  upon  returning  home  his  destiny  again  arose  be 
fore  him  in  the  form  of  the  resolution  that  he  had  got  the 
Congressional  Convention  to  pass  when  he  first  became  a 
candidate,  limiting  Harding  to  one  term,  and  which,  being 
observed  in  the  case  of  his  successor  Baker,  limited  him 
to  one  term  also,  and  he  was  not  again  a  candidate,  and 

19 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

went  back  to  practicing  law  and  developing  his   idea  fur 
ther. 

But  the  matter  now  took  another  turn,  for  in  1854 
Congress  passed  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  which  in  effect 
repealed  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which,  being  followed 
in  1856  by  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  holding  that  property  in 
slaves  could  be  held  in  the  Territories,  was  a  step  toward 
holding  that  property  in  them  could  be  held  in  the  States, 
and  having  consciousness  that  expression  could  not  be 
given  to  his  idea  through  the  government  until  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery  was  out  of  the  way,  the  threatened  exten 
sion  of  it  alarmed  him,  and  he  began  making  speeches 
against  it.  And  this  led  to  something  else. 

For  in  doing  so  he  associated  the  idea  that  had  been 
given  him  with  the  idea  that  our  fathers  had  got  of  it  that 
all  men  are  created  equal,  and  that  governments  derive 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and 
his  doing  so  gave  him  the  idea  that  the  nation  could  not 
continue  to  endure  with  a  few  of  us  governing  the  indust 
rial  action  of  part  of  us,  or  as  he  afterwards  expressed  ii 
that  it  divided  our  house  against  itself,  and  that  so  divid 
ed  it  could  not  stand.  And  in  a  speech  at  Beardstown, 
Augtus  12,  1858,  he  said: 

"The  men  who  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence  said  that  all  men  are  created  equal,  and  are  endowed 
by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights, — life,  lib 
erty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  This  was  their  majes 
tic  interpretation  of  the  economy  of  the  universe.  This 
was  their  lofty,  and  wise,  and  noble  understanding  of  the 
justice  of  the  Creator  to  his  creatures— yes,  gentlemen,  to 
all  his  creatures— to  the  whole  great  family  of  man.  In 
their  enlightened  belief  nothing  stamped  with  the  divine 
image  and  likeness  was  sent  into  the  world  to  be  trodden 
on  and  imbruted  by  its  fellows.  They  grasped  not  only 

20 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  whole  race  of  men  then  living,  but  they  reached  for 
ward  and  seized  upon  the  farthest  posterity.  They  erect 
ed  a  beacon  to  guide  their  children,  and  their  children's 
children,  and  the  countless  myriads  who  shall  inhabit  the 
earth  in  all  ages. 

"Wise  statesmen  that  they  were,  they  knew  the  tend 
ency  of  posterity  to  breed  tyrants,  and  so  they  established 
these  self-evident  truths,  that  when  in  the  distant  future, 
some  man,  some  faction,  some  interest,  should  set  up  the 
doctrine  that  none  but  rich  men,  none  but  Anglo-Saxon 
white  men,  were  entitled  to  life,  liberty,  and  tbe  pursuit  of 
happiness,  their  posterity  might  again  look  up  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence  and  take  courage  to  renew  the  battle 
their  fathers  began;  so  that  truth,  and  justice,  and  all  hu 
mane  and  Christian  virtues  might  not  be  exinguished  from 
the  land;  so  that  no  man  would  hereafter  dare  to  limit  and 
circumscribe  the  principles  on  which  the  temple  of  liberty 
is  being  built." 

And  in  the  meantime  he  and  Judge  Douglas,  who 
brought  in  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  were  nominated  by 
their  respective  parties  for  the  United  States  Senate,  and 
Lincoln  challenged  him  for  joint  debate,  which  challenge 
he  accepted,  and  six  days  thereafter  at  Ottawa,  where  the 
first  debate  was  held,  in  opening  his  speech  Douglas  said: 

"Mr.  Lincoln  reads  from  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence  that  all  men  are  created  equal,  ana  then  asks,  How 
can  you  deprive  the  negro  of  the  equality  which  God  and 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  awards  him?  He  main 
tains  that  negro  equality  is  guaranteed  by  the  law  of  God 
and  that  it  is  asserted  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
If  he  thinks  so,  of  course  he  has  the  right  to  think  so,  and 
so  vote.  I  do  not  question  Mr.  Lincoln's  conscientious  be 
lief  that  the  negro  is  his  equal,  and  hence  his  brother;  but 
for  my  own  part,  I  do  not  regard  the  negro  as  my  equal, 

21 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  positively  deny  that  he  is  my  brother,  or  any  kin  to 
me  whatever." 

To  which  Lincoln  replied: 

"I  agree  with  Judge  Douglas  that  the  negro  is  not  my 
equal  in  many  respects — certainly  not  in  color,  perhaps 
not  in  moral  or  intellectual  endowment.  But  in  the  right 
to  eat  the  bread,  without  the  leave  of  anybody  else,  which 
his  own  hands  earn,  he  is  my  equal,  and  the  equal  of  Judge 
Douglas,  and  the  equal  of  every  living  man." 

I  see  him  now  through  the  mist  of  years,  tall,  gaunt, 
and  sad-faced,  burdened  with  his  developing  idea.  Doug 
las,  jovial,  rotund,  and  low  of  stature,  is  standing  behind 
him,  for  he  is  so  disturbed  by  the  turn  that  the  debate  has 
taken  that  he  cannot  keep  his  seat  while  Lincoln  is  speak 
ing. 

Over  there  is  a  banner  held  aloft  by  the  hand  of 
beauty  and  innocence,  inscribed: 

"Westward  the  star  of  empire  takes  its  way, 
The  girls   link  on   to   Lincoln,   as   their  mothers 
were  for  Clay." 

And  over  there  another,  inscribed: 

"Abe  the  Giant  killer.' 
And  over  there  another,  saying: 

"The  Litle  Giant  eating  Abe  up." 
And  over  all  the  motto: 

"Free  Territories,  and  Free  Men, 
Free  Pulpits,  and  Free  Preachers, 
Free  Press,  and  Free  Pen, 
Free  Schools,  and  Free  Teachers." 

22 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

And  now  we  hear  the  voice  of  Lincoln  vibrant  with 
the  idea  that  had  been  given  him. 

"Now,"  he  says,  "my  countrymen,  if  you  have  been 
taught  doctrines  conflicting  with  the  great  landmarks  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence;  if  you  have  listened  to 
suggestions  that  would  take  away  from  its  grandeur,  and 
mutilate  the  fair  symmetry  of  its  proportions;  if  you  have 
been  'nclined  to  believe  that  all  men  are  not  created  equal 
in  those  inalienable  rights  enumerated  in  our  chart  of  lib 
erty,  let  me  entreat  you  to  come  back.  Return  to  the 
fountain  whose  waters  sprang  close  to  the  blood  of  the 
Revolution. 

"Think  nothing  of  me.  Take  no  thought  of  the  polit 
ical  fate  of  any  man  whomsoever,  but  come  back  to  the 
truths  that  are  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  You 
may  do  any  thing  with  me  you  choose  if  you  will  but  heed 
these  sacred  principles.  You  may  not  only  defeat  me  for 
the  Senate,  but  you  may  take  me  and  put  me  to  death. 

"While  pretending  no  indifference  to  earthly  honors,  I 
do  claim  to  be  actuated  in  this  contest  by  something  more 
than  mere  anxiety  for  office.  I  charge  you  to  drop  every 
paltry  and  insignificant  thought  of  any  man's  success.  I 
am  nothing.  Judge  Douglas  is  nothing.  But  do  not  des 
troy  that  immortal  emblem  of  humanity — the  American 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

But  there  is  something  other  than  the  speeches  and 
banners  of  these  debates  that  is  important  to  us,  for  in 
the  second  of  them  at  Freeport,  Lincoln  asked  Douglas  a 
question;  and  the  answer  that  he  gave  to  it  will  affect  us  to 
the  very  latest  times. 

The  question  was  this: 

"Can  the  people  of  a  United  States  terrritory  in  any 
lawful  way,  against  the  wishes  of  any  citizen  of  the 

23 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

United  States,  exclude  slavery  from  its  limits  prior  to  the 
formation  of  a  State  Constitution. 

And  Douglas  said  yes  to  it,  and  so  pleased  his  constit 
uents  that  they  elected  him  to  the  Senate;  but  because  of 
his  doing  so,  when  the  Convention  of  his  party  met  in  1860 
to  nominate  a  candidate  for  president  the  Southern  delega 
tes  refused  to  vote  for  him,  and  the  Northern  delegates  re 
fusing  to  vote  for  any  one  else,  the  Convention  split 
and  nominated  two  candidates — Douglas  and  Breckenridge 
— and  Lincoln  was  elected  over  both. 

And  then  the  matter  took  another  turn,  for  no  sooner 
was  it  known  that  he  was  elected  than  the  Southern 
States  began  to  take  steps  to  destroy  the  government,  and 
having  consciousness  that  it  was  through  the  government 
that  the  idea  that  had  been  given  him  wras  to  be  expressed, 
he  begged  them  to  desist: 

"We  are  not  enemies,"  he  said,  "but  friends.  We 
must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained, 
it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic 
chords  of  memory  stretching  from  every  battlefield  and 
patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all 
over  this  broad  land  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union, 
when  again  touched,  as  surely  it  will  be,  by  the  better 
angels  of  our  nature." 

There  had  been  nothing  more  pathetic  since  Calvary. 

But  they  heeded  him  not,  and  on  the  twelfth  of  the 
following  April  they  fired  upon  Fort  Sumter. 

And  then  the  idea  that  had  been  given  him  asserted  it 
self  in  quite  another  way,  and  he  called  for  severity-five 
thousand  men  to  save  the  Union. 

And  then  the  idea  that  our  fathers  had  given  us  of  It 
asserted  itself  in  the  same  way,  and  we  answered: 

24 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

"We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham,  three  hundred  thousand 

more. 

"We'll  rally  'round  the  flag,  boys,  we'll  rally  once  again. 
Shouting  the  battle  cry  of  freedom." 

And  thus  it  came  about  that  the  idea  that  had  been 
given  him  was  united  with  the  idea  that  our  fathers  had 
given  us  of  it  on  the  field  of  battle  and  that  every  shot  that 
we  fired  in  the  Civil  War  was  fired  for  industrial  as  well  as 
political  liberty. 

And  that  there  might  be  no  mistake  as  to  his  para 
mount  purpose  in  the  war,  that  it  might  not  be  thought 
that  he  waged  it  simply  to  destroy  slavery,  he  said: 

"If  there  are  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union 
unless  they  could  destroy  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with 
them.  My  paramount  purpose  is  to  save  the  Union,  and 
it  is  neither  to  save  nor  destroy  slavery.  If  I  could  save 
the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I  would  do  it;  and  if 
I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  of  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it; 
and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others 
alone,  I  would  do  that.  What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the 
colored  race,  I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the 
Union;  and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear,  because  I  do  not  be 
lieve  it  will  help  to  save  the  Union." 

It  was  this  paramount  purpose  of  his,  this  purpose  of 
his  to  save  the  government  that  our  fathers  created  of  our 
political  action,  that  through  it  the  idea  that  had  been  giv 
en  him  might  be  expressed  in  a  government  of  our  indus 
trial  action,  that  gave  him  that  far-away  look  that  was  so 
frequently  spoken  of  by  those  that  knew  him. 

"He  was  a  terribly  homely  man,"  says  Colonel  John  F. 
McCook,  who  often  saw  him;  "and  yet  there  was  some 
thing  wonderful  in  his  face,  an  intangible  something  like  a 
light  from  within.  He  seemed  to  be  always  looking  out 

25 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

beyond  the  person  he  talked  to  or  the  scene  he  looked  at." 

Yes;  he  was  looking  out  beyond  the  person  he  talked 
to  or  the  scene  he  looked  at — looking  out  beyond  to  you 
and  to  me,  and  to  "our  children,  and  our  children's  chil 
dren,  and  to  the  countless  myriads  that  shall  inhabit  the 
earth  in  all  ages,"  by  the  light  of  the  idea  that  had  been 
given  him. 

But  he  not  only  looked  out  beyond  the  person  he  talk 
ed  to  or  the  scene  he  looked  at,  but  he  looked  in  at  the 
idea  that  made  it  possible  for  him  to  do  so,  and  this  gave 
him  that  introspective  look  which  was  so  frequently  spok 
en  of  by  those  that  knew  him. 

And  it  was  this  looking  out  to  his  vision,  and  back  to 
the  idea  that  gave  rise  to  it,  that  was  the  paramount  bur 
den  of  this  great  soul,  and  not  the  burden  that  the  South 
laid  upon  him.  For  in  doing  so  he  bore  their  burden  as  he 
bore  ours.  And  as  one  that  bears  the  burden  of  another 
feels  the  woes  of  another,  he  felt  their  woes  as  he  felt  ours, 
and  they  wrung  from  him  an  expression  of  anguish  that 
has  no  parallel  in  all  the  annals  of  war. 

"I  have  not  suffered,"  he  said,  "by  the  South,  I  have 
suffered  with  the  South.' 

And  its  only  parallel  in  moral  grandeur  was  wrung 
from  the  lips  of  the  martyr  of  Galilee: 

"Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do." 

*  #  *  *  *  # 

Hannibal  made  war  for  revenge,  Caesar  and  Alexan 
der  for  ambition,  Washington  for  justice  and  the  love  of 
his  country,  the  Christ-like  Lincoln  for  his  love  of  the 
enemies  of  it,  and  the  consciousness  that  he  had  that  they 
were  mistaken  in  being  so. 

Whom  he  loved  he  chastened, 
26 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

That  the  South  felt  something  of  this  is  shown  by  the 
confession  of  one  of  her  most  sensitive  souls: 
"I  love  the  South,"  he  said, 

"And  dared  for  her  to  fight  from  Lookout  to  the  sea 
With  her  proud  banner  over  me. 
But  from  my  lips  thanksgiving  broke, 
When  God  in  battle-thunder  spoke, 
And  that  black  Idol,  breeding  drouth 
And  dearth  of  human  sympathy 
Throughout  the  sweet  and  sensuous  South, 
Was  with  her  chains  and  human  yokes 
Blown  hellward  from  the  cannon's  mouth, 
While  freedom  cheered  behind  the  smoke."  1 

And  a  like  confession  was  made  by  one  of  her  greatest 
generals. 

"Your  loss,"  he  said,  "would  have  been  our  loss,  and 
your  gain  has  been  our  gain."  2 

And  what  with  his  suffering  and  a  great  war  to  di 
rect,  he  was  able  to  keep  one  eye  on  his  idea  and  the  other 
on  the  vision  that  it  gave  him,  marks  him  as  one  of  the 
greatest  men  of  all  times.  For  the  greatness  of  men  is 
measured  by  the  burdens  that  are  laid  upon  them  and  the 
manner  in  which  they  bear  them. 

And  no  greater  burdens  were  ever  laid  upon  any  man 
than  were  laid  upon  Abraham  Lincoln.  For  had  he  lost 
sight  of  his  idea  he  would  have  been  lost  in  the  mazes  of 
his  vision.  And  had  he  lost  sight  of  his  vision  he  would 
have  been  lost  in  the  mazes  of  his  idea.  But  he  lost  sight 
of  neither,  and  with  a  steadiness  of  purpose  that  was  sub 
lime  proceeded  to  the  development  of  both. 

1  Maurice  Thompson. 

2  General  Longstreet,   to  the  Union   veterans   at  At 
lanta. 

27 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

And  above  the  war  for  the  Union  his  vision  grew  until 
it  became  the  vision  of  his  country  as  it  is  to  be.  And  in 
it  there  was  no  slavery.  And  patiently  abiding  his  time  he 
wrote  his  name  on  a  proclamation  saving  it  so— Abraham 
Lincoln. 

It  meant  a  heap  to  Abe. 

And  it  means  a  heap  to  us. 

For  thereby  he  made  it  possible  for  the  idea  that  had 
been  given  him  to  be  expressed  through  the  government 
that  our  fathers  created  of  our  political  action  in  a  govern 
ment  of  our  industrial  action. 

And  then  he  was  stricken  down,  leaving  us  the  heri 
tage  of  his  idea  and  his  vision,  and  the  duty  of  creating  a 
government  of  our  industrial  action  to  correspond  to  them. 

And  his  vision  is  arising  before  us  even  now,  as  the 
idea  that  was  given  him  is  struggling  within  us. 

And  in  it  I  see  arising  a  new  temple  of  liberty,  in 
which  none  will  be  hungry  and  receive  not  meat,  none 
thirsty  and  receive  not  drink.  For  it  will  be  dedicated  to 
human  need;  and  will  have  all  the  power  of  all  the  genius 
that  has  lived  and  wrought  since  the  morning  stars  sang 
together. 

And  under  its  control  will  be  the  whirr  of  all  spindles 
and  the  beating  of  all  looms.  And  the  machinery  that 
now  lifts  the  burden  off  of  some  of  our  backs  will  then  lift 
the  burden  from  all  of  our  backs.  For  it  will  be  under  the 
control  of  the  great  heart  of  humanity  that  will  heed  the 
cry  of  sorrow  and  of  hunger. 

Against  this  great  time  that  in  his  vision  I  plainly  see, 
how  poor  and  worthless  our  strifes  appear!  How  as  noth 
ing  the  bickerings  of  the  market  and  the  greed  of  trade! 
For  in  the  new  time  it  will  not  be  me  and  mine,  but  us  and 
ours. 

28 


THE  IDEA  AND  VISION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

And  while  his  vision  cannot  be  realized  without  diffi 
culty,  it  will  be  no  such  difficulty  as  we  have  heretofore 
met  with. 

For  since  we  left  the  birthplace  of  the  race  in  our  at 
tempt  to  realize  a  right  condition  of  society,  our  course 
has  been  marked  with  the  graves  of  nations. 

But  this  nation  will  not  die. 

Our  difficulty  will  be  that  of  birth;  and  we  will  be  sus 
tained  in  it  by  the  consciousness  that  when  it  is  over  we 
will  have  realized  the  hopes  and  the  aspirations  of  all  the 
ages. 


The  Coming  of  Theodore  Roosevelt 


IT  IS  not  possible  to  speak  rightly  of  public  men  with 
out   understanding   the   times   in   which   they   appear 
among  us,  for  it  is  by  their  action  in  relation  thereto 
that  we  form  our  judgments  of  them.     And  as  we  know 
more  about  the  times  that  have  passed  than  the  times 
that  are  passing,  it  is  quite  difficult  to  speak  rightly  of 
one  that  is  living. 

So  it  will  be  more  difficult  for  me  to  speak  rightly 
of  Theodore  Roosevelt  than  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  for  in 
ipeaking  of  Abraham  Lincoln  I  had  only  to  recount  his 
action,  and  incidentally  refer  to  the  times  of  it,  but  in 
speaking  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  I  will  have  to  dwell  upon 
the  times  of  it. 

And  what  is  most  characteristic  of  them  is  the  unrest 
that  exists  among  us,  and  the  dissolution  and  reorganiza 
tion  of  parties  that  is  taking  place  among  us,  and  to  speak 
of  Theodore  Roosevelt  rightly  we  have  got  to  understand 
the  cause  of  it. 

Now  one  thing  is  sure:  it  is  not  caused  by  what  we 
call  bad  times,  for  we  are  not  having  what  we  call  bad 
times,  for  business  is  good,  money  is  plenty,  and  labor  is 
employed  at  fairly  good  wages. 

It  is  true  that  the  cost  of  living  is  high,  but  those 
30 


THE  COMING   OF  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

that  it  benefits  are  dissatisfied  as  well  as  those  that  it 
injures. 

So  we  will  have  to  look  elsewhere  for  the  cause  of  the 
unrest  that  exists  among  us,  and  the  dissolution  and  re 
organization  of  parties  that  is  taking  place  among  us.  And 
in  doing  so  it  is  natural  for  us  to  inquire  if  it  ever 
occurred  among  us  before. 

And  those  of  us  that  are  acquainted  with  history  will 
readily  recall  that  it  occurred  prior  to  1776,  and  prior  to 
1860.  And  it  will  suggest  itself  to  us  that  if  we  can  ascer 
tain  the  cause  of  it  at  those  times,  we  may  be  able  to  as 
certain  the  cause  of  it  now. 

And  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  cause  of  the  unrest  that 
existed  among  us,  and  the  dissolution  and  reorganization 
of  parties  that  took  place  among  us  prior  to  1776  was  our 
dissatisfaction  with  the  government  of  the  political  action 
of  all  of  us  by  a  few  of  us,  and  that  the  cause  of  it  prior 
to  1860,  was  our  dissatisfaction  with  the  government  of  the 
industrial  action  of  part  of  us  by  a  few  of  us. 

From  which  we  may  safely  conclude  that  the  cause  of 
the  unrest  that  exists  among  us  and  the  dissolution  and  re 
organization  of  parties  that  is  taking  place  among  us  is 
our  dissatisfaction  with  the  government  of  the  industrial 
action  of  all  of  us  by  a  few  of  us. 

But  the  question  yet  remains,  why  are  we  dissatis 
fied  with  the  government  of  the  industrial  action  of  all 
of  us  by  a  few  of  us? 

And  the  answer  to  it  is,  for  the  same  reason  that  we 
were  dissatisfied  with  the  government  of  the  political  action 
of  all  of  us  by  a  few  of  us,  and  with  the  government  of  the 
Industrial  action  of  part  of  us  by  a  few  of  us,  because  it  is 
contrary  to  our  national  idea,  and  is  interfering  with  the  de 
velopment  of  it,  and  with  the  development  of  the  nation 
from  it. 

31 


THE  COMING  OF  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

And  furthermore,  that  it  is  not  only  interfering  with 
the  development  of  our  national  idea,  and  with  the  de 
velopment  of  the  nation  from  it,  but  it  threatens  the 
destruction  of  our  national  idea,  and  the  nation  with  it, 
for  if,  as  Lincoln  foresaw,  the  nation  could  not  continue 
to  endure  with  a  few  of  us  governing  the  industrial  action 
of  part  of  us,  much  less  can  it  continue  to  endure  with  a 
few  of  us  governing  the  industrial  action  of  all  of  us. 

For  our  national  idea  is  not  of  recent  origin,  but  only 
of  recent  blooming.  And  it  isn't  in  full  bloom  yet.  But  it 
is  budding  everywhere.  And  wherever  it  buds  and  blooms, 
freedom  springs.  It's  budding  in  China  now.  And  we  are 
about  to  put  forth  another  flower  of  it. 

So  that  primarily  the  question  before  the  country  is 
a  moral  one,  as  primarily  the  question  before  the  country 
in  1776,  and  the  question  before  the  country  in  1860  were 
moral  ones. 

It  is  the  question  of  whether  a  few  of  us  shall  con 
tinue  to  govern  the  industrial  action  of  all  of  us,  and  by 
doing  so  destroy  our  consciousness  of  right  and  wrong. 

And  no  wonder  we  are  singing  religious  songs,  or 
songs  set  to  religious  music. 

For  our  danger  is  not  merely  speculative  but  actual, 
and  is  manifesting  itself  in  the  increase  of  wrong  doing 
among  us. 

It  is  this  interference  with  the  development  of  our  na 
tional  idea,  and  with  the  development  of  the  nation  from 
it,  by  the  government  of  the  industrial  action  of  all  of  us 
by  a  few  of  us  that  is  "the  something  wrong"  that  we  have 
heard  so  much  about,  and  that  we  have  tried  to  account 
for  in  every  way  that  we  could  think  of. 

Some  times  we  have  said  that  it  was  over  production, 
and  sometimes  that  it  is  the  failure  of  crops.  Sometimes 
we  have  said  that  it  was  because  we  didn't  have  enough 

32 


THE  COMING  OF  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

money.  And  sometimes  we  have  said  that  it  was  because 
we  had  too  much  money. 

But  the  tariff  has  been  our  favorite  explanation  of  it. 
And  that's  the  way  the  Democrats  have  got  it  in  their  plat 
form  that  Bryan  wrote  for  them. 

But  Bryan  is  not  up-to-date,  for  he  thinks  that  things 
were  made  perfect  to  start  with  by  God  and  Thomas  Jef 
ferson,  but  that  they  are  in  the  habit  of  falling  down,  and 
that  our  task  is  to  set  them  up  again.  That  our  task  is  to 
regain  what  we  lose,  whereas  it  is  to  gain  what  we  never 
had,  compared  with  which  setting  up  things  that  have  fall 
en  down  is  an  easy  matter. 

But  while  the  Democrats  have  got  it  in  their  platform 
that  it  is  the  tariff  they  have  their  doubts  about  it  and  for 
fear  they  are  wrong  they  promise  to  put  the  rascals  that 
it  makes  of  us,  big  and  little,  in  jail.  Not  knowing  how  to 
cut  off  the  supply  of  them  they  promise  us  that  they  will 
take  care  of  it. 

But  the  trouble  is  that  if  the  supply  of  them  isn't  shut 
off  it  won't  be  long  until  there  won't  be  jails  enough  to 
hold  them,  or  honest  men  enough  to  send  them  there,  or  to 
keep  them  there  after  we  have  gone  to  that  trouble. 

And  finally  they  may  go  to  putting  honest  men  in  jail, 
claiming  that  any  one  that  hasn't  any  more  sense  than  to 
be  honest  ought  to  be  there,  and  there  will  be  so  many  of 
them  that  they  can  prove  it. 

And  then  what  will  become  of  you  and  me  and — and 
Bryan.  We  couldn't  have  him  at  our  Chautauquas. 

And  then  what  would  we  do? 

But  to  speak  rightly  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  it  is  not 
only  necessary  for  us  to  know  that  the  question  before 
the  country  is  whether  a  few  of  us  shall  continue  to 
govern  the  industrial  action  of  all  of  us,  but  it  is  neces- 

33 


THE  COMING  OF  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

sary  for  us  to  know  that  by  the  dissolution  and  reorganiza 
tion  of  parties  that  is  taking  place  among  us,  we  are 
being  lined  up  on  it,  as  by  the  dissolution  and  reorganiza 
tion  of  parties  that  took  place  among  us  prior  to  1776, 
we  were  lined  up  on  the  question  of  whether  a  few  of  us 
should  continue  to  govern  the  political  action  of  all  of 
us,  and  as  by  the  dissolution  and  reorganization  of  par 
ties  that  took  place  ambng  us  prior  to  1860,  we  were 
lined  up  on  the  question  of  whether  a  few  of  us  should 
continue  to  govern  the  industrial  action  of  part  of  us. 

And  I  am  now  to  speak  of  Theodore  Roosevelt's  part 
In  it. 

When  the  Republican  convention  met  at  Chicago,  it 
appeared  to  those  that  knew  what  was  going  on,  that  it 
was  about  equally  divided  between  those  that  had  the  idea 
that  a  few  of  us  should  continue  to  govern  the  industrial 
action  of  all  of  us,  and  those  that  had  the  idea  that  they 
should  not  continue  to  do  so,  with  those  that  had  the  idea 
that  they  should  continue  to  do  so  in  the  majority. 

And  under  the  leadership  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  those 
that  had  the  idea  that  a  few  of  us  should  not  continue 
to  govern  the  industrial  action  of  all  of  us  went  out  of  it 
and  formed  the  Progressive  party,  as  in  1856  the  Whig  par 
ty  was  about  equally  divided  between  those  that  had  the 
idea  that  a  few  of  us  should  not  continue  to  govern  the  in 
dustrial  action  of  part  of  us,  and  those  that  had  the  idea 
that  they  should  continue  to  do  so,  with  those  that  had  the 
idea  that  they  should  continue  to  do  so  in  the  majority, 
and  under  leadership  of  Abraham  Lincoln  those  that  had 
the  idea  that  they  should  not  continue  to  do  so,  went  out 
of  it  and  formed  the  Republican  party. 

And  when  the  Democrat  convention  met  at  Baltimore, 
it  appeared  to  those  that  knew  what  was  going  on  that  it 
was  about  equally  divided  in  the  same  way,  with  those 

34 


THE  COMING  OF  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

that  had  the  idea  that  a  few  of  us  should  continue  to  gov 
ern  the  industrial  action  of  all  of  us  in  the  majority. 

And  under  the  leadership  of  William  Jennings  Bryan 
those  that  had  the  idea  that  a  few  of  us  should  not  con 
tinue  to  govern  the  industrial  action  of  all  of  us  tried  to 
go  out  of  it  but  did  not  succeed  in  doing  so;  although 
Bryan  had  the  same  chance  of  leading  them  out  of  it,  that 
Roosevelt  had  of  leading  those  that  had  the  same  idea  out 
of  the  Republican  Convention  at  Chicago. 

For  Roosevelt  had  the  chance  of  leading  the  Progres 
sives  out  of  the  Republican  Convention  at  Chicago  when 
the  vote  on  Temporary  Chairman  showed  that  the  party 
was  about  equally  divided  upon  a  question  involving  the 
perpetuity  of  the  nation,  and  Bryan  had  the  same  chance 
of  leading  the  Progressives  out  of  the  Democratic  Conven 
tion  at  Baltimore. 

But  Roosevelt  had  another  chance  left  him  at  Chicago, 
although  a  less  one,  and  he  waited  for  the  question  of 
fraud  in  the  election  of  delegates  to  come  up,  and  acted  up 
on  it. 

And  Bryan  had  another  chance  left  him  at  Baltimore, 
although  a  less  one,  and  he  waited  for  the  platform  to 
come  up  and  lost  it,  for  the  Standpatters  told  him  to  write 
the  platform  to  suit  himself. 

And  what  he  lost  with  it  will  ne>er  be  known,  for 
when  he  was  struggling  to  separate  the  Progressives  of 
his  party  from  the  Standpatters  of  it  at  Baltimore  Roose 
velt  had  not  been  nominated  by  the  Progressives  at  Chi 
cago,  and  had  he  succeeded  in  doing  so  it  might  now  be 
Candidate  Bryan,  instead  of  Candidate  Roosevelt. 

And  the  candidate  of  the  Progressive  party  this  year 
will  look  mighty  large  when  history  comes  to  be  written, 
compared  to  one  going  about  the  country  advising  Pro- 

35 


THE  COMING  OF  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

gressive  Democrats  to  stay  in  a  party  that  he  tried  to  get 
them  out  of  earlier  in  the  season  when  there  was  a  chance 
for  him  to  corral  them. 

But  to  say  nothing  about  the  chance  that  Bryan  lost  of 
becoming  the  candidate  of  the  Progressives  instead  of 
Roosevelt  by  his  failure  to  deliver  the  Progressives  of  the 
Democratic  party  from  it,  had  he  succeeded  in  doing  so 
the  history  of  it  would  have  been  different,  for  it  would 
have  shared  equally  with  the  Republican  party  the  glory 
of  our  next  forward  movement,  and  escaped  the  obloquy 
having  opposed  it,  which  it  cannot  do  now. 

For  the  Progressive  Democrats  are  going  out  of  it  in 
to  the  Progressive  party,  and  the  Standpat  Republicans 
are  going  into  it,  and  it  will  soon  be  lined  up  against  the 
Progressive  party  on  the  question  of  whether  a  few  of  us 
shall  continue  to  govern  the  industrial  action  of  all  of  us, 
as  it  was  lined  up  against  the  Republican  party  on  the 
question  of  whether  a  few  of  us  should  continue  to  govern 
the  industrial  action  of  part  of  us,  in  our  last  forward 
movement. 

But  this  was  not  Bryan's  fault,  for  he  was  not  living 
then,  but  the  fault  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

For  Douglas  had  the  same  chance  to  deliver  the  Pro 
gressives  of  the  Democrat  party  from  it  in  1857  that  Bryan 
had  to  deliver  the  Progressives  from  it  in  1912,  for  that 
year  the  Standpat  Democrats  having  fraudulently  voted 
the  Le  Compton  Constitution  on  the  State  of  Kansas,  mak 
ing  it  a  Slave  State,  President  Buchanan  favored  admit- 
ing  that  state  into  the  Union  under  it,  and  was  backed  by 
the  majority  of  his  party,  and  Douglas  opposed  it. 

So  that,  as  in  Baltimore,  it  became  apparent  to  those 
that  knew  what  was  going  on,  that  the  Democrat  party 
was  divided  upon  a  question  affecting  the  perpetuity  of  the 
nation,  and,  as  with  Bryan,  it  gave  Douglas  the  chance  of 


THE  COMING  OF  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

going  out  of  it  and  taking  his  followers  with  him. 

And  had  he  done  so  they  would  have  either  united 
with  the  Progressives  that  had  gone  out  of  the  Whig  party 
under  the  leadership  of  Lincoln,  or  the  Progressives  that 
had  gone  out  of  the  Whig  party  under  the  leadership  of 
Lincoln,  would  have  united  with  them  under  his  leader 
ship,  as  had  Bryan  gone  out  of  the  Democrat  party  the 
Progressives  that  went  out  of  it  with  him  would  either 
have  united  with  the  Progressives  that  went  out  of  the 
Republican  party  under  the  leadership  of  Roosevelt,  or 
the  Progressives  that  went  out  of  the  Republican  party 
under  the  leadership  of  Roosevelt  would  have  united  with 
the  Progressives  that  went  out  of  the  Democrat  party  un 
der  his  leadership. 

And  in  either  event  the  Democrat  party  would  have 
shared  equally  with  the  Whig  party  the  glory  of  our  last 
forward  movement,  and  escaped  the  obloquy  of  having  op 
posed  it,  which  it  did  not  do,  for  the  Progressive  Demo 
crats  went  out  of  it  into  the  Republican  party,  and  the 
Standpat  Whigs  went  into  it,  and  it  was  soon  lined  up  as  a 
Standpat  party  in  favor  of  a  few  of  us  continuing  to  gov 
ern  the  industrial  action  of  part  of  us  against  the  Repub 
lican  party,  as  it  will  soon  be  lined  up  as  a  Standpat  party 
in  favor  of  a  few  of  us  continuing  to  govern  the  industrial 
action  of  all  of  us  against  the  Progressive  party. 

Of  course  had  Douglas  led  his  followers  out  of  the 
Democrat  party  as  Lincoln  led  his  followers  out  of  the 
Whig  party,  it  would  have  died,  as  the  Whig  party  died, 
and  the  Standpat  WTrigs,  and  the  Standpat  Democrats 
would  have  had  to  create  a  new  party  to  stand  pat  in,  as 
if  Bryan  had  led  his  followers  out  of  the  Democrat  party 
as  Roosevelt  led  his  followers  out  of  the  Republican  party 
it  would  have  died,  as  the  Republican  party  is  now  doing, 
for  it  could  not  have  survived  a  birth  of  that  kind,  any 

37 


THE  COMING  OF  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

more  than  the  Whig  party  did,  or  the  Republican  party 
can  do,  but  it  would  have  died  without  the  obloquy  of  op 
posing  our  progress  as  the  Whig  party  did,  and  the  Repnb- 
lican  party  is  doing. 

But  after  all,  with  the  condition  of  mind  that  Bryan 
was  in  at  Baltimore,  and  the  condition  of  mind  that  Roose 
velt  was  in  at  Chicago,  it  could  not  have  been  different, 
for  we  cannot  do  anything  unless  the  idea  of  what  we  are 
undertaking  to  do  is  sufficiently  developed  in  our  minds 
to  give  us  resolution  to  do  it,  and  the  idea  of  what  Bryan 
undertook  to  do  in  Baltimore  was  not  sufficiently  devel 
oped  in  his  mind  to  give  him  resolution  to  do  it,  and  the 
idea  of  what  Roosevelt  undertook  to  do  at  Chicago  was 
sufficiently  developed  in  his  mind  to  give  him  resolution  to 
do  it. 

For  while  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  filling  out  the  term 
of  President  McKinley,  the  idea  that  had  been  given  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  so  far  developed  in  his  mind  as  to  give  him 
the  idea  that  the  nation  could  not  continue  to  endure  with 
a  few  of  us  governing  the  industrial  action  of  all  of  us, 
as  while  Abraham  Lincoln  was  making  speeches  against 
the  institution  of  slavery  it  so  far  developed  in  his  mind 
as  to  give  him  the  idea  that  the  nation  could  not  continue 
to  endure  with  a  few  of  us  governing  the  industrial  action 
ef  part  of  us. 

And  he  began  to  administer  the  government  according 
to  that  idea,  and  continued  to  do  so  during  the  term  for 
which  he  was  afterward  elected,  as  Abraham  Lincoln  be 
gan  to  administer  the  government  according  to  the  idea 
that  he  had  got  that  the  nation  could  not  continue  to  en 
dure  with  a  few  of  us  governing  the  industrial  action  of 
part  of  us  after  he  got  to  be  President. 

But  the  term  for  which  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  elect 
ed  expiring,  he  went  out  of  office  under  the  mistaken  no- 

38 


THE  COMING  OF  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

tion  that  it  was  his  second  term,  recommending  Mr.  Taft 
as  his  successor,  for  while  the  idea  that  had  been  given 
him  was  sufficiently  developed  in  his  mind  to  give  him  the 
idea  that  the  nation  could  not  continue  to  endure  with  a 
few  of  us  governing  the  industrial  action  of  all  of  us,  it 
was  not  sufficiently  developed  for  him  to  see  that  Mr.  Taft 
didn't  have  it  or  if  he  had,  that  it  was  not  sufficiently  dev 
eloped  in  his  mind  to  give  him  resolution  to  act  upon  it, 
and  Mr.  Taft  has  been  lost  in  the  office,  when  in  ordinary 
times  he  would  have  made  a  very  good  President,  for  there 
are  some  good  things  about  him — as  there  are  about  all  of 
us. 

But  we  made  the  same  mistake  in  electing  him  Presi- 
ident  that  we  would  have  made  had  we  elected  George  B. 
McClellan  at  the  end  of  Lincoln's  first  term,  for  George  B. 
McClellan  did  not  have  the  idea  that  the  nation  could  not 
continue  to  endure  with  a  few  of  us  governing  the  indus 
trial  action  of  part  of  us,  or  if  he  had  it  was  not  sufficient 
ly  developed  in  his  mind  to  give  him  resolution  to  act  upon 
it,  and  he  would  have  been  lost  in  the  office,  when  in  or 
dinary  times  he  would  have  made  a  very  good  President, 
for  there  were  some  good  things  about  him.  He  was  a 
mighty  good  organizer,  as  Taft  was  not  a  bad  judge. 

But  it  is  not  too  late  to  correct  our  mistake  now,  as  it 
would  have  been  too  late  to  correct  our  mistake  had  we 
elected  George  B.  McClellan  to  succeed  Abraham  Lincoln 
at  the  end  of  his  first  term,  for  the  situation  is  not  so  acute 
now  as  it  was  then,  and  if  we  do  the  wise  thing  this  fall 
we  will  call  Theodore  Roosevelt  back  to  finish  the  work 
that  he  was  selected  for,  as  we  called  Abraham  Lincoln 
back  to  finish  the  work  he  was  selected  for, 

For  the  work  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  selected  for 
was  to  lead  us  in  doing  away  with  the  government  of  the 
industrial  action  of  part  of  us  by  a  few  of  us,  while  the 

39 


THE  COMING  OF  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

work  that  Theodore  Roosevelt  has  been  selected  for  is  to 
lead  us  in  doing  away  with  the  government  of  the  indus 
trial  action  of  all  of  us  by  a  few  of  us,  and  creating  a 
government  of  it  by  ourselves,  as  the  work  that  George 
Washington  was  selected  for  was  to  lead  us  in  doing  away 
with  the  government  of  political  action  of  all  of  us  by  a 
few  of  us,  and  in  creating  a  government  of  it  by  ourselves. 

But  Theodore  Roosevelt  has  not  only  been  selected  to 
lead  us  in  doing  away  with  the  government  of  the  indus 
trial  action  of  all  of  us  by  a  few  of  us,  and  in  creating  a 
government  of  it  by  ourselves,  but  he  has  indicated  the 
first  step  to  be  taken  towards  it — that  of  creating  a  com 
mission  to  govern  the  industrial  action  of  our  corpora 
tions,  for  we  are  to  create  our  government  of  our  industrial 
action  through  our  corporations,  as  we  created  our  govern 
ment  of  our  political  action  through  our  States. 

Mind  you,  I  do  not  say  that  Theodore  Roosevelt  is  the 
only  one  of  us  that  has  the  idea  of  a  self-government  of 
our  industrial  action,  for  we  all  have  it  more  or  less  de 
veloped  in  our  minds. 

What  I  say  is  that  it  is  more  perfectly  developed  in 
his  mind  than  in  the  minds  of  the  most  of  us.  Certainly 
more  perfectly  developed  in  his  mind  than  in  the  mind  of 
either  Mr.  Taft  or  Mr.  Wilson,  for  it  is  not  sufficiently 
developed  in  the  minds  of  either  of  them  to  see  the  first 
step  to  be  taken  towards  it,  or  if  so  to  give  them  resolution 
to  speak  of  it,  much  less  act  from  it. 

It  is  true  it  is  sufficiently  developed  in  the  mind  of 
Mr.  Wilson  for  him  to  see  that  we  have  got  to  govern  the 
price  of  the  articles  and  services  that  our  corporations 
produce  for  us,  but  it  is  not  sufficiently  developed  in  his 
mind  for  him  to  see  why  we  have  got  to  do  so.  And  he 
thinks  that  we  have  got  to  do  so  simply  to  prevent  them 
from  charging  us  too  much  for  them,  not  because  it  is 

40 


THE  COMING  OP  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

necessary  for  us  to  do  so  to  take  the  next  step  forward. 
And  so  he  proposes  to  govern  the  price  of  them  with  the 
tariff. 

Which  reminds  me  of  a  man  that  I  once  heard  of  who 
insisted  that  an  apple-peeler  ought  to  be  used  for  a  fly- 
killer  because  once  in  a  while  one  of  them  got  in  the  cogs 
of  it  and  was  put  an  end  to  in  that  way. 

But  he  isn't  in  circulation  now,  for  he  couldn't  be 
taught  any  better,  and  his  friends  finally  saw  that  he 
would  have  to  be  sent  away,  although  there  was  a  differ 
ence  of  opinion  as  to  where  he  ought  to  be  sent  to,  some  of 
them  insisting  that  he  ought  to  be  sent  to  Congress  with 
the  rest  of  them. 

And  there  are  people  who  think  that  Mr.  Wilson  ought 
to  be  sent  to  the  White  House  because  he  is  in  a  similar 
state  of  mind.  They  seem  to  think  that  it  would  be  well 
to  have  Congress  and  the  White  House  unanimously 
•foolish. 

Oh,  Mr.  Wilson  is  a  Standpatter,  for  he  hasn't  the 
idea  that  we  are  proceeding  from  sufficiently  developed  in 
his  mind  to  look  forward  from  it,  but  only  to  look  back 
from  it. 

He  sees  that  we  have  got  to  do  something,  and  not 
being  able  to  see  that  we  have  got  to  do  something  new 
he  thinks  that  we  have  got  to  do  the  same  old  thing-  ?ver 
again,  only  more  of  it. 

His  idea  is  to  govern  the  price  of  the  articles  and 
services  that  our  corporations  produce  by  letting  foreigners 
produce  them  for  us,  and  leave  us  to  settle  the  question 
of  what  we  are  to  do  with  ourselves  while  they  are  doing 
BO,  and  where  we  are  to  get  the  money  to  pay  for  them 
at  the  reduced  price. 

And  what  is  the  pity  of  it,  Mr.  Wilson,  and  all  Stand 
patters,  although  they  look  back  from  the  idea  that  we 

41 


THE  COMING  OF  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

are  proceeding  on,  instead  of  forward  from  it,  labor  under 
the  delusion  that  they  are  conservatives. 

Whereas  what  we  have  got  to  do  that  is  worth  con 
serving  can  only  be  conserved  by  looking  forward  from 
It,  and  going  forward  from  it,  as  what  we  had  in  1776 
and  1860,  that  was  worth  conserving  could  only  be  con 
served  by  looking ,  forward  from  it,  and  going  forward 
from  it. 

For  to  conserve  the  nation  we  have  got  to  go  for 
ward  to  the  completion  of  our  institutions.  And  if  we  do 
not  do  so  we  will  go  backward  to  the  destruction  of  it. 

For  before  us  lie  the  green  pasture,  and  still  waters 
of  plenty  and  peace. 

Behind  us  the  desert,  and  the  mountains,  over  which 
we  have  marched  with  parched  lips  and  bleeding  feet. 

With  one  more  effort  we  may  enter  the  land  that  our 
aspirations  and  our  hopes  have  promised  us  ever  since 
the  sublime  idea  of  our  equality  arose  on  our  conscious 
ness  to  guide  us  on  our  way. 

And  that  until  recently  we  had  never  doubted,  or  hesi 
tated  to  follow,  although  our  fidelity  to  it  was  tested  at 
every  step  of  our  progress. 

It  was  fidelity  to  this  idea,  the  following  it  and  trust 
ing  it  that  lead  us  in  triumph  through  the  Revolutionary 
War. 

It  was  fidelity  to  this  idea,  the  following  it,  and  trust 
ing  it  that  lead  us  in  triumph  through  the  War  of  the  Re 
bellion. 

It  was  fidelity  to  this  idea,  the  following  it  and  trust 
ing  it,  that  led  us  in  triumph  through  our  war  with  Spain. 

And  it  was  only  after  that  war  was  over,  only  after  the 
last  gun  had  been  fired  in  the  cause  of  liberty  of  Cuba  that 
we  turned  our  faces  from  its  light. 

42 


THE    COMING    OF   THEODORE   ROOSEVELT 

But  it  will  only  be  for  a  moment,  for  before  long  the 
fires  of  patriotism  will  be  burning  in  all  our  hearts. 

And  we  will  again  turn  our  faces  towards  the  star  that 
Washington  set  in  our  skies,  and  that  Lincoln  never  lost 
sight  of,  and  that  Roosevelt  has  his  eye  on. 

And  following  it  we  will  go  forward  to  our  sublime 
destiny. 

Not  that  of  conquering  the  islands  of  the  seas,  but  of 
establishing  upon  this  continent  a  government  of  the  peo 
ple,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  that  cannot  perish 
from  the  earth. 

For  when  we  have  applied  the  idea  to  the  government 
of  our  industrial  action  that  our  fathers  applied  to  the  gov 
ernment  of  our  political  action,  we  will  have  made  the  stars 
in  our  flag  the  complements  of  the  stars  in  our  skies,  and 
the  one  enduring  as  the  other. 

For  ours  is  to  be  the  glory  of  the  world's  greatest 
achievement  or  the  humiliation  of  its  greatest  defeat. 

And  it  is  up  to  you  to  say  which  it  shall  be. 


Books  by  Daniel  W.  Church 

Bound  in  Cloth. 

The  Records  of  a  Journey  $1.00 

The  Enigma  of  Life  .  -          $1.00 

An   Interview  .....  $1.00 


This  book  with  portraits,  25  cts. 

These  books  all  mark  the  development  in  the  Author's 
mind,  and  in  history,  of  the  idea  of  the  government  that 
we  are  to  create  of  our  industrial  action,  and  will  be  sent 
post  paid  by  the  publishers,  The  Berlin  Carey  Co.,  Chicago. 

In  Preparation 

The  Remedy,  Or  of  the  GovernmentThat  We  Are  to 
Create  of  Our  Industrial  Action. 


(Over) 


<n 


X 
•O 

g 

3 
P. 
» 


O  -1 

C  v* 

^  § 

H'  O 


ft  2r 

O  O> 

<rf  co 

£  S* 

3  M- 


A- 

S 

(0 

<<         M 

a 


i 
o 

3 
(9 

•d 

ra 
o 

CD 
3 
r> 

< 

CD 


2    3 


<»  H- 

f 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

to—fcK     A    t    -t-         Vi '   V\ 


Renewe 


bo|k^*r|  siiject 


e  recall. 


REC'D  LD 


/>.;:.  4  1.QR7 


APR    "M962 


RPfTO  CO" 


DEC  19  '.958 


REC'D  L.D 


REC'D  LD 


JAN    5  10GG  1  3 


n 


REC'D 


18Apr»62|L 


REC'D  LD 


LOAN 


Bep^ 


(B93IllOJ476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


Photomount 
Pamphlet 

Binder 
Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 
Syra  :use,  N.  Y. 

PAT.  JAM  21,  1908 


^ 


